Background: Discharging patients in an efficient manner improves patient satisfaction and hospital throughput. In this project, we sought to improve patient throughput as well as benefit resident education. Prior to our project, 75% of patient discharges were delayed more than two hours after the patient was determined to be medically ready for discharge; 21% were [...]

Background: Many efforts to improve bed availability in hospitals with high occupancy focus on encouraging providers to discharge patients earlier in the day without making substantial changes to workflows or to address barriers to patient care progression. Unfortunately, when this is most needed is often when teams are at their busiest with high census and [...]

Background: Clostridium difficile infection is a common infection encountered by hospitalists. While C. difficile colitis is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States, C. difficile can be a normal colonizer of the large intestine. In our clinical experience, we have observed that many patients are inappropriately tested for C. difficile infection. [...]

Background: Prolonged intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS) has been shown to delay patients’ recovery, increase their exposure to the risk of infections, upsurge healthcare costs, and reduce care availability to other critically ill patients. ICU LOS is directly influenced by both medical and institutional factors. The aim of the project is to [...]

Background: Understanding current practice patterns is essential to identifying opportunities for improvement and acknowledging good practice behaviors. However, often this information is not easily accessible or provided in a timely fashion, especially to front line staff. Key Performance Indicator (KPI) Boards are an effect tool to display timely data and are often used with nursing [...]

Background: Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD) is an infectious diarrheal illness associated with high morbidity and mortality. Patients with CDAD have diarrhea symptoms and a positive test for a toxin-producing Clostridium difficile organism. However, patients may be asymptomatic carriers without diarrhea or symptoms of clinical Clostridium difficile infection and have a positive test. Approximately 10 [...]

Background: Hypertension is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) half of all United States citizens with hypertension (HTN) do not have their blood pressure under control. As such, HTN remains a large public health challenge, especially in patients with other comorbidities such as diabetes [...]

Background: Implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) shocks can be traumatic for patients and families, particularly at the end of life. Studies estimate between 51-65% of ICDs remain active at time of death, with 24-31% of patients receiving shocks within the last day of life, and 8% in the last minute of life. The Heart Rhythm Society [...]

Background: Vascular access devices (VADs) play an integral role in the treatment of patients, since they can be utilized for the administration of intravenous medications (including antibiotics and chemotherapy), and often on a long term basis. A peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) is a type of VAD, which is frequently utilized in different populations. Once [...]

Background: Anemia is common in patients with HF with a prevalence ranging from 10-40%. Studies have shown that these patients have worse outcomes compared to those who don’t. The most common etiology remains iron deficiency and the updated 2017 HF guidelines state that for those patients who are diagnosed with iron deficiency anemia, intravenous iron [...]